Penny Lancaster, 53, reveals she had a breakdown and Loose Women staged an intervention as she struggled with undiagnosed menopause: ‘I threw plates across the kitchen, Rod stood there in shock’

Penny Lancaster recalls the moment her husband Rod Stewart urged her to seek medical help after she threw dishes across the kitchen for their two sons.

In a candid interview, the former model, 53, told how menopause ‘hit like a truck’ four years ago, causing her to suffer several ‘breakdowns’.

Penny said it was so bad she worried whether her marriage would survive, and after she was misdiagnosed with depression, it was her team at Loose Women who organized an intervention.

When she first started experiencing symptoms, Penny and Sir Rod, 79, along with their two sons Alistair, 18, and Aiden, 13, had just left their home in Florida and moved back to Britain during lockdown.

Speaking of the moment Rod told her, “You can’t keep going like this,” Penny said The times: ‘I picked up the plates and threw them across the kitchen. That’s an outrageous thing to think about: who on earth would host the dinner?

In a candid interview, the former model, 53, told how menopause ‘hit her like a truck’ four years ago, causing her to suffer several ‘breakdowns’.

Penny and Sir Rod, 79, left their Florida home with their two sons Alistair, 18, and Aiden, 13, and moved back to Britain during lockdown when she started experiencing symptoms

‘I would throw these plates of food across the kitchen as hard as I could, to make as much noise as possible. As if the sound… as if someone would wake up, someone would notice me, someone would have the answer.

‘I collapsed in a heap on the floor, bursting into tears and shaking in the corner. It was of course an absolute shock to Rod and the boys. Rod just said, “Guys, in the other room. Leave Mom behind.”

“He came to me and said, ‘It’s okay, honey. It’s okay, it’s okay.’ I was shaking. ‘I can’t do this. What the hell is wrong with me?’ I thought I was going crazy. Rod said, “Okay, we need to get you to the doctor. You can’t go on like this any longer. There must be an answer. There must be something.’

Luckily, Penny revealed that the plates didn’t hit anyone, but they had to redecorate the kitchen.

Penny experienced an unusual discomfort at night that she described as being similar to the feeling of a “rising fire” or “standing in a fire pit.”

She could easily feel her blood boiling and would wake up freezing in the night without knowing what was happening to her, leading her to assume at the time it was Covid-19.

Penny often retreated to the garden where the chickens had to cope with the debilitating anxiety she suffered as a result of the changes to her body.

When the model finally got a chance to see her doctor – who was a man – he saw her burst into tears, diagnosed her with depression and prescribed antidepressants.

Such drugs only worsened Penny’s mood as she felt “terrified but also numb.”

She didn’t shy away from admitting that moments like that left her ‘throwing plates across the kitchen’ – but luckily her fellow Loose Women panellist had stepped in for good (pictured in September 2021 on Loose Women)

But then it was the Loose Women team who came to the rescue and once they returned to the studio, the panel were finally able to see Penny in person and finally ‘realize what was going on’ (photo L-R Andrea McLean, Penny, Carol McGiffin and Nadia Sawalha)

After being diagnosed with menopause, Penny burst into tears of joy as all she could think about was saving her marriage and ‘preventing her family from falling apart’ (pictured with Rod in June 2023)

The star explained that she couldn’t feel happy or sad, and that the antidepressants only contributed to her feeling like she “didn’t care about her own condition,” despite feeling the same symptoms.

But then it was the Loose Women team who warned Penny that she might be going through the menopause.

After chatting on Zoom, the daytime panel said it could easily have been a hormonal withdrawal, despite thinking she wasn’t ‘old enough’.

And once they got back to the studio, they were finally able to see Penny in person and finally realized what was going on.

The TV alumnus praised them, saying their “combined strength” had spared her gratitude for all their past experiences.

They informed her about Dr. Louise Newson, an increasingly celebrated menopause specialist who “keeps an emergency room open every day in her practice for suicidal women.”

Penny joined the doctor on one of her emergencies and was diagnosed over a Zoom call.

She burst into tears that thankfully it wasn’t a ‘mental illness’ – all she could think about was saving her marriage and ‘preventing her family from falling apart’.